1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to material surface inspection and profiling, and, more particularly, to a non-destructive method for inspecting and profiling a surface.
2. Description of Related Art
The testing of a material normally requires that a piece of the material to be tested be brought to the equipment used for testing. This necessitates the obtaining of a sample of the material, as by cutting off or removing a portion of the material. Additionally, the cut off or removed sample must then be transported to the equipment to perform the necessary tests, necessitating further delays. Such delays are sometimes substantial, due to delays in shipment, furthermore, once received, the sample then must be prepared and wait to be tested.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a process for quickly and easily testing a surface of a material or an object without requiring the removal of any portion of the material or the object, and which can be performed in situ, or which may be easily shipped to a lab, or the like, for further testing and extrapolation thereof.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved and simplified process of inspecting the surface of a material. It is a particular object of the present invention to provide an improved and simplified, non-destructive surface inspecting and profiling method. It is another particular object of the present invention to provide an improved and simplified non-dstructive process utilizing a thin polymer impression for extrapolating information about the surface of a material or an object. And, it is a still further particular object of the present invention to provide an improved and simplified method of non-destructive testing, utilizing a polymer mixture to form an impression of a surface, passing light through an impression of the surface formed in the polymer, and obtaining an electronic image of the surface, which electronic image may then be manipulated and/or studied by a computer.
These and other objects of the present invention are obtained by providing a method for non-destructive inspection and profiling of a surface of a material. The method includes the steps of selecting a polymer mixture, applying the selected polymer mixture to a surface to be tested, lifting the polymer mixture off the tested surface after a predetermined period of time, passing a light through the polymer mixture to form an image of the tested surface, and processing the image in a computer to create usable information about the tested surface.